G7 ministers to discuss Europe crisis Tues: Canada

By Allison Martell

2 Min Read

TORONTO (Reuters) - Finance ministers and central bank governors of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations will hold a conference call on Tuesday morning to discuss the European debt crisis, a spokeswoman for Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday.

The spokeswoman made the statement to clarify remarks Flaherty made to reporters early on Monday. She said there would be no ministerial call for the broader Group of 20 (G20), which includes the G7 as well as China, India, Russia, Brazil and other emerging countries.

Flaherty, asked whether the crisis was an issue for the G20, said earlier: "I've been having discussions and I will have more discussions tomorrow morning and subsequently with my G7 colleagues."

He added: "Those discussions also take place with some of the non-European members of the G20 ... who are concerned around the world outside of the euro zone with the potential consequences of a crisis in the euro zone, particularly a banking crisis."

Flaherty did not provide details.

G20 leaders will meet in Mexico June 18-19 and Europe is likely to dominate the agenda.

On Monday, financial markets were rattled by the deepening problems in the euro zone, as well as by disappointing U.S. jobs data and weak Chinese manufacturing figures, all of which spurred more concern about the global growth outlook.

Flaherty said Canada's economy was in relatively good shape compared with other industrialized nations, although he noted that employment data has been "a bit bumpy" in recent months, and that Canada could be hit by Europe's troubles.

"The real concern right now is Europe of course - the weakness in some of the banks in Europe, the fact they're undercapitalized, the fact the other European countries in the euro zone have not taken sufficient action yet to address those issues of undercapitalization of banks and building an adequate firewall," he told reporters.

Additional reporting by Randall Palmer; Writing by David Ljunggren and Louise Egan; Editing by James Dalgleish; and Peter Galloway